3 ABSTRACT The theme of my thesis : Use of canisteraphy in the elderly retirement home. The theme: Theme of my thesis was to studying the effect of canisteraphy and its progress on the quality of live senior sof older people living in geriatric facilities. Qualitative study was focused primarily on ganges in sociability and social skills, cognitive area, especially perception of stimulation, memory training, attention and influence on overall to a new environment in a retirement home. Methods : The research had a qualitative charakter, since my direct participation during the theraphy in the retirement home the metod of my research became direct watching the seniors in combination with interwiev. The Results: Using interview and studies, we had introduced the process of canisteraphy and its progress in a retirement home. Results indicated a positive effect especially in the areas of sociability and social skills, cognitive and overall area of adaptation in new environment in a retirement home. Key words : canistheraphy, geriatrics, seniors, retirement home,

The thesis titled "Use of animal assisted therapy for the hospitalized children" deals with the theoretical background of animal assisted therapy as a supporting method in complex rehabilitation and its practical use during the visits of volunteers with their dogs and its influence to the health of children in hospital care. In the available literature are often described the positive effects of the animal assisted therapy onto the mental and physical condition of the person, the impact on improving communication as well as other factors in the social life of the client. The main focuse of my work is whether these effects can be observed (noticed) even in the short term or even after a single visit of the dog. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, I have tried to describe this impact and possibly uncover additional benefits that can be attributed to the visits of the volunteers with a dog at pediatric hospital.

The aim of this thesis is to determine the influence of assisted therapy of dogs and horses for people with musculoskeletal disabilities and sensory impairments. The operational objective is to define the status and position of a therapy with the assistance of a dog and a horse in the context of the complex rehabilitation of a client. The theoretical part concentrates on the issues of zootherapy and zooasistance as supportive methods for easing muscle spasms, the development of fine and gross motor skills, development of verbal and nonverbal communication and development of orientation in space. In the research part of the thesis there are used qualitative techniques of data collection (history and observation), all rounded off by grounded theory. By the carried out research there were found positive manifestations in both the social and psychological areas, as well as in the areas of communication and development of fine and gross motor skills of children with disabilities.

The aim of my thesis " Comparison of the Motivation and Professional Background of the Various Forms of Animal Assisted Activities" is to determine through literature, opinions of therapists and observation to determine what is the motivation, professional background and time demand to all forms of therapy. The first part focuses on the cross-section of views of the theoretical literature focusing on animal assisted activities. Here I describe the differences between different forms of animal assisted activities and I also deal with ethology of dogs. In the second part I find out through interviews and observations, I find actual evidence from animal assisted activities and I specifically discuss the use of animal assisted activities on the first grade of primary school. At the end of the thesis I summarize insights from observations, processed interviews and also from my own experience and I evaluate usage of animal assisted activities on the first grade of primary school.

ABSTRACT The thesis called Health and Social Impacts of Human and Dog Co-existence is a paper describing the development of a human and a dog relationship since old times until present. It deals with the origin of a dog and describes the development of understanding between a human and a dog, which lasts up to the present day. The paper offers an integrated survey on the ways the dogs are used at present, especially in health and social areas. It informs the readers on the dog use possibilities, the care for dogs, and also the principles of communication, which enable quality and peaceful life of a human and a dog. The first objective was to find out what is the respondents´ knowledge on the dog use possibilities in the society. This objective was fulfilled and the hypothesis was proved. Respondents do not know even a half of possible dog use in co-existence with people. The second objective was to find out how respondents perceive the presence of dogs in their surroundings in relation to children. The objective was also fulfilled, however, the hypothesis that more than 75 per cent of respondents are careful during the contact of a child with a dog, was disproved. Quite a high percentage of people nderestimate the possible risk during the contact of a child with a dog. The third objective was focused on the awareness of respondents of the dog body signals. The hypothesis was proved in this case and out of the results it is evident that the people lack information on the signals sent by dogs. For finding out the needed data the questionnaire research was used. The questionnaire was composed of 24 questions and handed out to 350 respondents. The result of the research was the proving of three above mentioned hypotheses. One of them was disproved, the rest was proved. The awareness of respondents is not high. 44 per cent of owners are threatened by the risk of wound caused by their own dog. Everything is the result of insufficient education in the area. I see preventive programmes focused on the principles of proper co-existence of a human and a dog, which start in kindergarten, as a possibility to lower the risk of wounds or bites caused by dogs.

The work focuses on the area integration stay focused on canistherapy as a tool for strenghening social responsibility intact children and children with disabilities and social disadvantage. The theoretical part deals with the issue of spending free time of children and youth, with an emphasis on the possibilities of involving children with special needs in leisure activities. Furthermore, the thesis deals with the historical insights of the integration tendencies in the Czech lands, the definition of integration and inclusion concepts and, last but not least, the field of activities and therapy in the presence of a dog. The research part of the work, realized in the form of a questionnaire, aims to determine the development of social competences of intact children, children with disabilities and social disadvantage during an integration stay with an emphasis on canistherapy. KEYWORDS leisure, integration, inclusion, disability, social disadvantage, canistherapy

Using the dogs for the therapeutic purposes is not novelty anyway. Connection to the dog is, vice versa, one of the strongest fixations in the human society. It is know, that many people feel absence of somebody, who they could have a good chat from their joys and troubles of life or only the closeness of some living creature who would love them. Theoretical part of this thesis is focused on explanation of names as zootherapy, canistherapy and recovering actions. One chapter of this part is dedicated the introduction on the Training Centre of Canistherapy called Hafík, o.s. (non-profit civic association). Further, the author concerns explanation of issues with integration and inclusion. The last part of the theoretical section is focused on explanation of the term social skill. Aim of the practical part of thesis is based on describing of researching methods and one is own results of research work. Researching aim of it was describing of the change in the social sphere and social skills of children from the intact society in a course of stay action realization with focus on canistherapy. For realization of the researching part of thesis author chose qualitative way of research. For collection of dates the method of taking part was used. In practice, it was long-termed and systematical observation of children from the intact society directly during their stay action focused on canistherapy. The second used method for collection of the dates was depth interview with the children from the intact society, who took part in the stay action focused on canistherapy. During this interview children were inquired individually in advance prepared, open questions, concerning, above all, their opinion about the handicapped friends, who took part in this stay action together with them. The last method used for collection of the dates in my thesis is the method of structural examination, which was used with the parents of children from the intact society, who took part in the stay action focused on canistherapy. After its ending, among the parents of children, there was realized examination, endeavouring for opinion of them: influence of this stay action to their child. As complementary dates resource, there was used the method of photo documentation. The research was under way in the period from July to September 2012 with the children from intact society, who where participants of the stay action focused on canistherapy and their parents. Camp was arranged with the Training Centre of Canistherapy called Hafík, o.s. (non-profit civic association). Whole of a piece 12 respondents both males and females from the row of the children from intact society took part in this stay action together with 6 parents of them. Results of the researching proved forth coming changes in the social sphere and social skills of the intact children during their stay action focused on canistherapy. The children improved their communication, learnt to establish and keep contact with new people. They became more self-confident, independent and self-sufficient. Further, the children, thanks to the presence of handicapped one´s, have learnt both the correct access to them and the forms of manners with them. At the same time they have got new knowledge about some individual types of disabilities. During the program with present dogs children gained couples of knowledge and skills, concerning with behavior, care and training the dogs. They learnt, how safely and in a responsible way entry to this four-footed friends. Author believes results of her thesis could serve as material for canistherapy in practice and for canistherapy on scientific, researching and educational level too.

The diploma thesis focuses on the area of canine therapy as one of forms of the zoo-therapy, which is a part of comprehensive rehabilitation methods. Canine therapy serves as a support of the psychosocial health of clients from all age groups, where a presence of a dog is used. It is method widely used in social work, social rehabilitation and physiotherapy. The theoretical part if the diploma thesis has been divided into two parts. The first part deals with a field of the zoo-therapy and it focuses on a terminology in that field, its history or methods and forms of the zoo-therapy. It notices, however, also umbrella organizations in the zoo-therapy, Czech as well as international ones. The second part is devoted to the canine therapy from its beginning, i. e. since the beginning of a man´s coexistence with a dog. The theoretical part describes possibilities for providing the canine therapy in accordance with the current legislation. The author also devotes to a composition and training of a canine therapy team and to its preparation for passing of the canine therapy tests. Currently, there is missing a database of people who are engaged in the canine therapy in practice. An aim of the practical part of the diploma thesis is to design such a database structure that would allow an easier contact among these people and therefore an easier access to getting relevant information and experience. The database should contain information for people who are supposed to be interested in services of canine therapy teams. The author published a call in magazines Dog ? Man´s Friend and Dog´s World on websites. The call addressed people practising the canine therapy and it invited them to participate in the research. A technique of e-mail survey (CAMI) was used to collect the data. Further a questionnaire with open questions was used. The other used technique was a content analysis of documents. The database of people practising canine therapy in the Czech Republic has been created. At the same time the collected information has provided a basis to compare competences of these people. The database could be used in order to improve a communication, an exchange experience and a complex development of the field.

This diploma thesis focuses on possible application ways of the selected therapies (canistherapy, hippotherapy and music therapy) in particular institutions for disabled people. The therapies mentioned above have been seen as the methods of a compact rehabilitation process which use a positive influence of animals and music on one´s health. The thesis contains the theoretical part which introduces the summary of development and current terminology on the field of zootherapy, canistherapy, hippotherapy and music therapy. The selected topic has been dissected here in full details. It also introduces the problem regarding physical disabilities in general. The practical part of the thesis is a data survey which have been gained in the form of a qualitative research, being presented in two significant chapters. In the first one, the survey regarding the characteristics of the involved institutions can be found. The second chapter is an analysis and comparison of gained information. The aim of the survey is to introduce and sum up the possible ways of using and application of these special therapies in the selected institutions for physically disabled people within the south Bohemian region. The methods of qualitative research have been used. To reach the goal, data collection in a form of observation, semi-standartized interview and photodocumentation have been applied. The complete conclusion of the gained information can be found in the final part of the thesis. The supplements contain some photos regarding these particular therapies and the structure of semi-standartized interview. The thesis can be used as a source of information for both experts and amateurs.

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